Chapter 7 - THE METROPOLITAN TRAP
The high-security vault was airtight. Clara beat her fists against the thick reinforced glass window, staring out into the dimly lit hallway.
On the other side of the glass, Julian stepped into view, flanked by four heavily armed mercenaries. He was clapping his hands in slow, mocking applause.
“Impressed, Clara,” Julian said through the intercom microphone. “Really, I am. You survived the fire, you recruited your crazy uncle, and you managed to break into my fortress. But you were always too emotional. You couldn't resist looking for answers about your mother, could you?”
“You monster!” Clara screamed, her voice muffled behind the glass. “You poisoned her! I have the medical records right here!”
“And where will those records go?” Julian sneered. “This vault is soundproof, bulletproof, and airtight. In approximately forty-five minutes, the oxygen in that room will be completely depleted. You’ll slip into a peaceful sleep, just like your mother did.”
Julian turned to his chief security guard. “Lock down this entire floor. Wipe the security logs. We have a victory gala to attend.”
Julian turned on his heel and walked toward the elevator, leaving Clara trapped in the dark vault as the low hiss of the air valve shutting off filled the silence.
Clara dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. The air was already growing thin. Her vision began to blur.
“Mark… Victor…” she gasped into her radio, but the vault’s thick lead shielding blocked all incoming and outgoing signals. Static was all she heard.
I can’t die here, Clara thought, her hands trembling as she pulled out the binder. Not after what they did to Mom.
She looked around the vault desperately. There were no vents, no windows to the outside, and no tools. Except for one thing.
In the corner of the room stood a high-voltage server backup power unit—a massive lithium-ion battery array used to power the vault’s independent cooling system.
Clara remembered her mother’s lessons from her childhood spent in the Sterling labs. Lithium-ion batteries react violently when exposed to short-circuit moisture and high voltage.
Clara pulled out her silver water flask from her tactical belt. She ripped open the front panel of the power unit using the sharp edge of her mother’s binder clip, exposing the high-voltage copper wiring.
She knew if she made a mistake, she would be vaporized in an instant.
She poured the water directly into the main junction box and shoved the heavy copper wire into the shorted circuit.
SPARK! SHRRRRK!
A blinding blue arc of electricity shot across the room. A massive thermal explosion blew outward, shattering the reinforced glass window of the vault into millions of tiny pieces and blowing the steel frame off its hinges!
The force of the blast threw Clara across the room, but the air swept back in. Gasping for oxygen, she crawled through the smoke and broken glass, clutching the binder and the hard drive to her chest.
She staggered out into the hallway just as Mark and Victor burst out of the emergency stairwell, guns raised.
“Clara!” Mark cried out, catching her before she collapsed. “We heard the explosion from the parking garage!”
“Julian… he’s on his way to the Metropolitan Hotel,” Clara gasped, her face covered in soot, her eyes burning with pure fury. “He thinks I’m dead.”
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Victor pulled out a sleek, black velvet box from his coat and handed it to Clara. Inside was a stunning, glittering crimson evening dress.
“Then let’s not keep your former groom waiting,” Victor said with a dangerous grin. “The entire world’s press is at that hotel right now. It’s time to give them the show of the century.”
